The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents calls for a review of using
mobile cameras on stretches of road without a history of frequent accidents.

Placing mobile speed cameras on stretches of road without a history of frequent accidents is like "shooting fish in a barrel", one of the country’s most senior police officers has admitted.

The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (Asps) suggested tactics such as parking mobile camera vans on a bridge above stretches of motorway, such as the M9 approaching Stirling, is more likely to raise money than save lives.

Chief Superintendent David O'Connor, the organisation’s president, said speeding is dangerous but it was time to review how mobile cameras are used.

Figures released by Police Scotland last month revealed that mobile speed cameras earned a total of £2.75 million in 2012/13 compared to £1.5 million generated from fixed cameras.

Critics claim the location of mobile speed cameras on motorways and dual carriageways is primarily a revenue-raising exercise. There are more than 500 mobile cameras operating on roads north of the Border,

Ch Supt O’Connor said placing cameras on motorway bridges was like "shooting fish in a barrel" because of the number of vehicles driving under them at close to or over the limit.

"We need to make sure that the public perception of speed cameras is not that it is all about making money. Of course speeding on the motorway is dangerous, but these are not accident black spots,” he told Scotland on Sunday.

"There must be more flexibility and maybe it's time to review safety cameras and how they're located across Scotland."

He said he also wants speeding motorists to be offered safer driving courses as an alternative to fines and points on their licenses, arguing the emphasis should be on “education as well as enforcement”.

But he said the police have diminishing influence in local camera safety partnerships, which oversee speed camera use but also include council and health representatives.

Scotland’s most lucrative mobile camera site is the A9 Edinburgh to Perth Road, on the northern outskirts of Dunblane, where it crosses Allan Water.

Some 4,217 drivers were caught in the last financial year, paying a total of £253,020 in fines. The next most-ticketed spot for mobile cameras was the A74M northbound at junction 13 where 3,163 drivers were caught paying £189,780.

"Instead, they're situated where these partnerships know they can get the most money from them. Our motorways and dual carriageways are actually the safest types of roads. That's proof that cameras are not there to make roads safer, they exist to hit motorists in the pocket."

A spokesman for Transport Scotland, a Scottish Government quango, said: “New fixed and mobile camera sites must meet criteria based on accidents, casualty histories and levels of speeding.

“Once a site is established. levels of enforcement and other operational decisions are made by the partnerships themselves."

Police Scotland said there had been no change in the arrangements, but disclosed a review had been launched into where cameras are located.